Worst Fear 177

Chapter 177 

Lydia 

Soft glow fell on the face of the waiter as she raised her head. Her finger was pointed at me, but all I could do was stare at her face. My eyes narrowed in recognition. 

“You.” I said slowly, my chest tightening as realization sank deep into me. My voice was loud enough for her to hear, and she immediately lowered her head. 

“You know her? That means you saw her, too,” Detective Shawn said, looking between us. 

The same waiter I had seen in the hallways who bumped into me with a trail of wine and had knelt down to beg for her life was in front of me, trembling while pointing at me as the suspect of Julia’s fall. 

At this point, I didn’t care about the mummering from the crowd or the cold air bouncing off Mason, who stood at the side. 

“Miss Alissa, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come with us to the station,” Detective Shawn said, looking anything but sorry. The smirk he wore irritated me. I sucked in a breath. 

“She’s being arrested.” 

“Serve her right, no man is worth taking a life for.” 

“Just when I began to take her side. Team Julia all the way.” 

“I don’t think the Everett would let her off easily.” 

Everyone seemed to have something to say. It was completely normal, their words couldn’t break me. I saw Detective Shawn stepping towards me. 

Mason stepped in front of me, puffing his chest out, daring the detective to take one step more. The blonde man stopped a few feet away from me. 

“Mr Woods, please step aside, or you’d be obstructing justice,” Shawn said. These words ticked off something in me. 

Justice? 

“You want to take her away on the testimony of a waiter?” Something low and dangerous surfaced in Mason’s tone as he spoke to Shawn. His eyes flicker to the waiter, who trembled from his hot glare. For a liar, she lacks confidence. 

Shawn twisted his lips to the side, “There’s a video,” he said. He paused and then added, “And you don’t get to decide the ground on which we can take her away.” Although he tried to sound bold, the low tremor in his voice gave him away. 

“She won’t be-” I placed my hand on his. The last thing I needed was to give them a show. Seeing this, Detective Shawn sneered, “It seems Miss Alissa is more level–headed than you are.” 

“What?” Mason’s voice was dangerously low, and my hold around his hand tightened. Knocking off that man’s teeth with a .single punch is the last scene we needed. 

My eyes swept through the crowd; they all had their phones up, and they seemed more interested than they were in keeping Julia alive. 

Slowly, I let go of Mason’s hands and stepped out of his shadow. “I’ll go with you.” A genuine smile broke out on his lips. The other two detectives had faded into the background, and it wasn’t when I looked at the waiter again that I noticed them. 

1/4 

My gaze settled on the girl who shrank into herself with each second that rolled by. I stepped towards her. Shawn walked by my side, his hand almost reaching for me. 

When I heard a low shriek, I didn’t need to look behind to know that Mason had held him back. 

The two detectives beside her stood defensively as I walked closer. Her teeth sank on her bottom lip, her eyes darting 

around. 

Stopping a few feet away from her, I spoke, “You spilled the wine on my dress on purpose, right?” I asked her, my voice remained soft, surprising me. 

“So you could lock me in the restroom?” She couldn’t look me in the eyes, nor did she utter any words. 

A lump rose to my throat and I forced it down. I can’t believe I once felt something soft towards a girl like her. She wasn’t worth an ounce of my pity. 

“Miss Alissa, please don’t make this more difficult than it already is,” one of the men pleaded, his face scrubbed up in something unreadable, and I was tempted to remind him that he came here on his own accord. 

I never expected any reply, so I didn’t try to pry the waiter. From the way, she stood and clasped a hand over her chest, it was already clear that her conscience was eating her up. 

Good, nothing could be worse. 

I left with my shoulders squared. I was doing this for formality, a good conscience has nothing to fear. 

Mason drove me to the police station. He would hear nothing of me riding in the back seat of their car like a criminal. All through the way, we had our hands entwined. 

Mason called a lawyer. The man who seemed to be in the middle of a makeout session scrambled to his feet. I could tell from the noise the phone made. 

Mason gave one simple instruction, “Come to the police station,” and ended the call. 

Lines crawled into his forehead, and his jaws clicked. Seeing him like this warmed a part of me. 

I never knew I wanted Mason to be by my side this bad. 

The car rolled to a stop in front of a building. The entrance was crowded, and at the sight of our cars, flashes went off. 

Something flared in Mason’s gaze, dark, cold, “don’t step down from the car.” He said, and in the next minute, he stepped down. 

Detective Shawn had already begun to walk towards us. Mason met him halfway. I inhaled calmly as I watched them speak. 

I couldn’t make out a word Mason was saying, but from the right lock of his shoulders and his firm posture, I knew he would not allow me to get down from the car if the reporters didn’t leave, and I was right. 

I leaned into the chair, the leather felt rough against my back. The hum of conversation mixed with the beep of the coffee -maker at the side. 

A man dressed in a similar way to Shawn raced towards it. Mason was seated beside me, 

With Mason by my side, this place didn’t look as lonely and scary. 

When we first entered, Detective Shawn had requested that I be placed behind bars, but Mason had vehemently opposed 

him. 

2/4 

“Our lawyer is on his way, before then, we refuse to say anything.” Mason had stated. 

The man looked between us, before wiping his face with a handkerchief. “We’d be speaking to Miss Alissa alone.” He stated for the umpteenth time. 

He wanted to continue, but a single glare from Mason was enough to seal those lips. 

After a while, he sighed and said, “Since you don’t want to speak, I know you must be curious about the video I spoke about. It would be nice to watch it together, right?” 

It wasn’t a question because in a beat, he turned the laptop on his table towards us. 

The video showed someone wearing my dress standing on the balcony with Julia. She had her back toward the camera, successfully hiding her face. 

From the expression on Julia’s face and the way she kept making gestures with her hands, it was clear they were quarrelling. She came out of the room shortly after, and according to Detective Shawn, it was after Julia had been thrown over the railings. 

“I had already left Julia at this time,” I stated. Given the scene, it was easy for one to misunderstand, so I tried not to blame Shawn too much. 

This happened when I was locked in the restroom. I had timed my stay in Julia’s room, five minutes, and that was it, I left. “You can check the CCTV cameras in that hallway,” I said in a defensive tone. “Do your job correctly.” 

“There was no footage of you going to the restroom,” he looked offended, “I did my job properly. You walk back to the hall with splashes of red on your dress, which I guess you still have.” 

“That was wine, someone bumped into me and splashed wine on me. I had to go wash it off in the restroom, and I got locked up there.” I said before I could stop myself. 

“Your dress is the same as the woman in the video. How do you deny that? Besides, it’s an open secret that you and Miss Everrett had a sour relationship.” 

I squinted, and anger settled in the pit of my stomach. My throat burned, and I crossed my hand over my chest, “Are you suggesting I threw Julia over the railings because I hated her?” I asked, my eyes hardening. 

“Love for men can make us do crazy things sometimes. This isn’t anything new.” He said. 

I gritted my teeth in anger, my emotions raging within me. “A simple advice, it would be better if you confess your crime, you’d get a chance to lower your sentence, but if you keep insisting you are innocent, then you take a guess what would happen to you,” he said with a sardonic smile plastered on his lips. 

I fist my palm, I had a strong dislike towards this man for some unexplainable reasons. 

My ear perked at the sound of footsteps hurrying towards us, and I turned. 

A man holding a black suitcase with beads of sweat rolling down the side of his face stopped in front of us. 

“I’m Mr Cruz, Miss Alissa’s lawyer. You’ll speak to me from now on.” He said to the detective, handing over his card. 

To Mason, he bowed slightly, “I’m sorry, I was stuck in traffic, had to leave the car and run down here.” 

My eyes lowered to his stomach, pushing out of his shirt. It seems he needed traffic often. 

Mason stood up roughly, his hand found mine, and in a gruff voice, he said, “Let’s go.” 

3/4 

I stood but was stopped by Detective Shawn. “You can’t leave Miss Alissa.”